Tuesday, October 14, 2008

I had a little extra money in the bank and wanted to invest it. I know that this is a volatile time in the market, but I thought, better late than never. So I looked for the hot stock – one that no one thought would do anything, but would pay out big in the end. Doing a little research, I ran across a stock that was middle of the road for most of the year. It started out as a “Penny” stock during the first part of the year, but the company got a shot in the arm through the hiring of top of their game personnel. So I said, what the heck, I will lay down 100 bucks for 2 shares and wanted to be on the trading floor with all of the screaming and yelling.

Raffy with the drag bunt single

I arrived to the floor extremely early – before the gates even opened! Seems like I wasn’t the only one to buy either, as there were at least 56,800 other people that bought the stock too. I got there so early, that I thought that I would be able to purchase some souvenirs for the day, but lo and behold the store wasn’t even open. As an aside, if I holding “court” and doing business and didn’t open the gates, wouldn’t I want to try and make some extra money by opening a souvenir shop early so people would have something to do while they waited outside?

BUY BUY BUY!

We got to our seats and watched the personnel warm up. Of course I wanted to be ready for the day, so I purchased my super hot dog and coke early so I wouldn’t miss a minute of the festivities. Finally the opening bell rang and the games had begun. I couldn’t believe that some of the other daytraders hadn’t shown up for the start of the game. In fact there were two people in front of us that showed up 2/3rds of the way into the event! It was truly a day of ups and downs. The stock fell at the opening bell, losing two points and you could feel the crowd cringe. However, the stock bounced back and gained a point right back. Tension in the crowd could be felt throughout most of the early stages. And then in the middle of the day, the stock gained 2 more points to take a lead. People were now out of their seats, yelling and screaming – I think they were saying “BUY BUY BUY” while waving their white notepads. The very next hour the stock fell back one, but then gained TWO MORE points to take a commanding lead. It felt like I was actually going to make money off of this purchase. I couldn’t believe it. The stock was cruising along – only 2 more hours until closing.

Not even the edge was used

Then something terrible happened. They had previously sent their employee Kuo to do this pitch to the other company and he did a wonderful job. Heck he even went to bat for the company later that day and although sacrificed a little of himself, helped move the company forward. He was doing another pitch to that same company and faltered a little, but he was doing so well before, I thought that they would keep him on the assignment. But the company’s manager came out and replaced him with another employee named Wade. Now, I had done research on this particular employee as well and I know that has done a surprising and solid job for the company all year. But I also know that he just got back from an assignment the night before and he was probably tired.

This is where the wheels fell off. Wade’s pitch just didn’t have the same velocity as Kuo’s and the other company jumped all over him. You could see the house of cards crumbling in slow motion. The manager tried to replace Wade with someone else, but that didn’t work either. The entire floor was shocked. Everyone was losing their money and at the closing bell the stock ended up losing by 2 points. All I had were fleeting dreams of becoming rich and a white towel to wipe away my tears. Leaving the floor, the other traders were just as upset as I was feeling. Plus it was a mess leaving the stadium. I heard on the post-game radio reports that the company was in a little bit of a panic. They canceled work for the next day and would try to rebound on Wednesday. I hope they can do it. I don’t have any more money to spend on the company, so I will have to watch the next game from home. It is hard when you invest your time, money, and heart into something and watch it falter. However, the only solace that I have is that past performance does not guarantee future results. Go Blue!

Brilliantly written...I was there and that is exactly what it felt like...If I hadn't been on the field level, I would have jumped out a window in the 8th. I told everyone today--if this had been a game in mid-July--you would have gone home and said, "It was a good game--exciting."But not in mid-October. No way. It was a killer.GREAT post.